Sad Steps

"Posterity" by Philip Larkin (1974)

This is an amusing and self-deprecating poem, in which the speaker—a poet very like Larkin—explains how he has an imagined American biographer who is thoroughly bored with his project, which he is only writing so he can get tenure at his university. The biographer is under no illusions about his subject, whom he describes as “One of those old-type natural fouled-up guys,” hinting at the disgruntled persona inhabiting so many of Larkin’s poems.

"Vers de Société" by Philp Larkin (1974)

Vers de Société is a French phrase meaning “society verse.” Often such verse in English is light and playful or ironic. The speaker in this poem has been invited to a social event but he much prefers solitude to company—reading under lamplight and looking out and seeing the moon. Nowadays—he is older now—he finds he does not like solitude as much as he used to, and sitting down under the lamp brings “Not peace, but other things” (a bit like how the speaker reacts to the sight of the moon in “Sad Steps”), so he decides to accept the invitation, even though he knows he does not really want to go.

"Aubade" by Philip Larkin (1977)